AMLA WAFER, NELLIKKA VARUTHATHU

We all are familiar with the Amla chutneys, pickles and jams or murabbas, juice, amla supari etc.  This Indian Gooseberry may not be liked by everyone due to its taste, but this wonderful fruit has got many health benefits.

You can have eat this raw, put in salt water and keep.  whenever you want, remove and make arachukalaki with coconut and green chilli with little curd.  this one is my favaourite.

This is also known as Amlakka or Amlakai or Amla, Avla etc..  Other names are Usiri Kaya in Telugu, Nellikkai in Tamil and Nelli in Malayalam.   It is rich in Calcium. The health benefits are linked here:

Recently, one of my friend told me that they used to slice the amla very thinly and sun dry the same and make raita out of it.  I just want to try this hence I had purchased 250 gms of this amla and kept for drying.

I was bored and could not get sleep in the afternoon, I thought I will try making wafer of this. You will not believe it was quite tasty.  Those who love to eat amla will definitely like this for a change.  You may feel strange, but it is worth trying.

BHEL KURMURA UPMA

Upma is served for breakfast as well as in the evening along with a cup of tea or coffee.  We make various kinds of upma viz. suji, lapsi etc.  Since I was bored of eating the regular stuff, I thought of making the kurmura upma.  It is pending since long in my list so I tried this and was quite tasty.

Other varieties of upma:
vari tandulachi upma
vegetable upma
adai upma
methi leaves upma
sevai rava upma
tomato upma
bread semiya upma
kuthiravali rava upma
roti upma
sabudana khichadi


video

RADISH GREEN SUBZI

Greens are always good for health.  I always try to make use of the greens of radish, beetroot, colacasia, knol khol etc.   Here I have used the greens of radish and made a simple dry subzi out of it.

TAMARIND SEED DOSA

I have already posted tamarind seed gun powder.  Now I tried the dosa and was quite tasty like the normal dosa.

You have to take little pain to prepare the seeds as you have to roast it, remove the outer skin and soak it.  Bit tedious process but for a change, worth trying it.

ARALU SANDIGE, PUFFED RICE FRYUMS, NEL PORI VADAM

Aralu Sandige is made with Nel Pori  (puffed rice) and white pumpkin and with some spices in it.    In Kannada  Aralu, and Nel pori in Malayalam or Tamil.  It is very easy to make, sun dry  and  store it.

Recently I visited one of my neighbour who has shifted from our building to far away place.  It was during the Sankranti time and as she was giving me the Haldi kumkum and  the til gul laddu, my eyes were looking at the aralu sandige which she had kept for sun drying.

At first I could not figure out as to what it was so i asked her out of curiosity.  She explained me the recipe and gave some sandige.  I came home and fried the same and really liked it. You can serve it with  Sambhar rice, rasam rice, bisibela bhath etc or with a cup of tea.

Aralu sandige, Puffed rice fryums, nel pori vadam

 video here

RAAB with rice and curd

Raab is a traditional healthy drink during winter.  It helps in building immunity and soothing when you have cough and cold.  This dish is prepared by Gujaratis and Rajasthanis  specially and served to the nursing moms.

The ingredients used in this helps in building immunity and keep the body warm during winter.

Normally, it is made with bajra flour, jaggery, soonth powder and little bit cumin powder and ghee. will be posting this recipe soon.  However, I am giving you a savory version of Raab with rice and curd which my neighbour gave me once when I was having high temperature and it was really really awesome to have hot hot raab at that time. .  I have made slight variations  from the original recipe and made the same with little variation.

STUFFED BHINDI

I have made the stuffed bhindi several times, but today only I realised that I have not posted the simple, easy and tasty recipe on my blog.

Okra or bhindi has got medicinal values the prominent one is it controls the blood sugar level and cholesterol.  If the bhindi is put in  water overnight after after trimming both the sides and the next day morning the water is consumed on empty stomach, it helps in controlling your diabetics.

Besides the medicinal values, each and every items has got its own taste and we make it more tasty by adding the masalas in it.  Here comes a simple recipe stuffed bhindi with a simple curry powder.

TAMARIND SEED RICE

I have posted recently Tamarind Seed Gun Powder.  With the same gun powder, I prepared the rice which was quite tasty with the raw tomato raita and papad.  The heath benefits are also mentioned in the said recipe.


It is quite easy to make and you will enjoy the rice as you enjoy the other rice varieties.

TAMARIND SEED GUN POWDER

I  am bringing back my child hood memories in this blog by posting this recipe.  In our child hood,we used to roast the tamarind seed, break the outer cover and eat it.  You have to keep the same in your mouth for sometime and with the help of saliva, it becomes soft.  We really used to enjoy the same by not frying it in the kadai, but put it in the charcoal after cooking our food, then remove it from the fire, break it with a stone.

We also used to enjoy the tamarind mixed with red chilli, salt, jaggery and bit of coconut oil and make a lolly pop with the stick and enjoy.  Another interesting one is break the raw mangoes on the treee itself, fill with chilli powder, salt and eat it.

Coming back to the recipe now, since the seeds are edible, I thought of  making something out of it.  I tried making the gun powder with it and did not feel that I am eating the tamarind seed gun powder.

When you fry the seed, you will get nice aroma somewhat like peanut.   You must ensure that it is not burnt as the taste will differ.   After browsing through the net, I got some interesting information about the health benefits of the seed which  I am writing after the recipe.

MIRCHI KA RAITA

Mirchi ka raita is prepared with the large green chilli or bharwan mirch it is known as.  We can make nice bhajias out of this stuffed with potato masala.

When I saw the fresh green chilli with the veg vendor, I could not resist myself from buying this.  However, I made it with only one chilli and rest, i used for bhajias.  This goes well with rice as well as parathas.  I had made green peas paratha and served with it.